Local Muslim Woman Featured on "Speaking of Faith"

Speaking of Faith is one of the country's better public radio shows, a thoughtful, hour-long examination of faith in its many manifestations that local listeners can find every Sunday at 3 p.m. on KPCC-FM 89.3. Last week, the show devoted itself to Muslim listener-submitted reflections on Ramadan, and one of the 14 selected for airing came from Costa Mesa resident Parisa Popalzai, an Afghan native and UCLA graduate (go Bruins!) who spoke eloquently about her religious awakening, with 9/11 unsurprisingly serving as a flash point in her transformation from a Ramadan Muslim (kaffirs: just like a Christmas Christian or Yom Kippur Jew) into a devout Muslim woman who wears the hijab.

"I became fed up with the stereotypes about Muslim women and tired of the fearmongering put out against the peaceful Muslim American community," Popalzai said. "I wanted to counter these misconceptions and prejudices by showing that Muslims are not some fanatic crazy-minded group of people. So on March 23rd, 2003, I decided to put on the head scarf and come out of the closet and be proud of my religious identity.

Listen to the entire interview below; if I screwed up the embedding, click here:

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!", and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!